Garðar Thór Cortes

Garðar Thór Cortes
Background information
Birth name	Garðar Thór Cortes
Origin	Reykjavík, Iceland
Genres	Opera and classical crossover
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1999–present
Website	gardarthorcortes.com

Garðar Thór Cortes (pronounced [ˈkarðar tʰouːr ˈkʰɔr̥tɛs], born 2 May 1974), is an Icelandic tenor of Icelandic and English parentage. A former child actor, Garðar subsequently trained as a singer in Vienna, Copenhagen and London. He has performed various leading tenor roles in operas, as well as a leading part in The Phantom of the Opera in London's West End. While insisting that he is first and foremost a classical opera singer, it was with his classical crossover album Cortes, released in Iceland in 2005, that Garðar came to prominence. His debut album in the UK, also titled Cortes, was released on 16 April 2007 and entered the UK Classical Charts at number 1.

Garðar was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, into a musical family. His father, Garðar Cortes Snr., was a world-class tenor who founded the Icelandic Opera, the Reykjavík School of Singing and the Reykjavík Symphony Orchestra. According to Garðar, his father had the same stature as Pavarotti and Domingo, and once when he was ill while performing in Oslo, Domingo stepped in for him. "He sang the main spinto tenor roles, including Caravadossi [from Tosca], Otello, Alfredo [La traviata] and Canio [Pagliacci]. He'd go away to sing Otello in Helsinki and he'd be there for several weeks, and he became so homesick he couldn't do it, so he didn't go as far as he should have and stopped." His English mother, Krystyna, was a concert pianist who studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His sister Nanna Maria is an operatic soprano, while his younger brother Aron Axel is studying to become a baritone. When commitments permit, the Cortes children perform in the chorus when their father is conducting an opera.

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